Photo by Danilo Batista on Unsplash
Objects
This boy that I loved, my first love, named parts of me
Names full of admiration
Names that never addressed me
Foreign names of white women
Aurora
I don’t like those names
Why not?
I picked beautiful names
Stars
Moons
Goddesses
Athena
But those aren’t my names
I’m not my body
I’m not a moon
Not a goddess
You are to me
Why don’t you understand?
It’s poetic
Why do you keep fighting me on this?
How come you don’t love me this way?
Rhea
Why can’t you just love me for me?
Why can’t I just love you the way I love you?
I make you more attractive in my head
No one will love you like I do
He took those parts of me
and made them his,
because all he ever saw me as
was a collection
of beautiful parts.
Womanhood
Take a moment
To appreciate
The Arab mother
Endlessly patient,
With injustice
Always smiling,
Through disrespect
They say motherhood ages a woman
He said it aged my Mama
Women are keepers of morals, defenders of virtue
Raising cities on sand, dumping quarries in the sea
Beautiful on top, fragile beneath
There to be spit on
Jannah is found beneath your mother’s feet
Your mother’s bloody, barefoot feat
They say the shock of birth traumatizes your Mama forever
They never consider the person who birthed you
3awrah
My hair was made of salt and sea
and shame
My eyes, lit with wonder and worry
were full of wickedness
Temptations made flesh
my flesh
So small, responsible to all
punished for every man
Women, keepers of sanctity
protect men’s virtue
Allah, kind and just and fair
will burn you
Every man who glances, who thinks impure
will earn one sin
And you, with your impudence,
will earn tenfold
One for dressing like a whore
one for every man’s glance
Imagine, two hours of immodesty
costing two years in fire
Every inch of flesh uncovered
will be seared
Our merciful God’s command
for your own safety
Remember, this is because to us,
women are respected
daisies
diamonds
dangerous